Review Summary: Not a hero. Not a fake. More of an Average Joe.
A Hero A Fake is not exactly a very well-known metal band. They were one that I stumbled upon accidentally on iTunes when looking for good new music a few years back.
With that said, many like to compare them to Between the Buried and Me, but I can surely vouch that I and many others know that these guys do not live up to the awesomeness that is BTBAM. If you're looking for decent metal/metalcore music then this is a decent place to start, but this album is not exactly anything groundbreaking or a breath of fresh air.
Now, I must give credit where credit is due to these guys, their instrumentals are pretty well above average. This is shown really well in "Terminal," "F-16," and "I Know I." Especially bridge and ending part with the drum blasts of "I Know I." They also have very good, catchy, clean-vocal hooks; the only issue with this is that it sounds slightly generic. And by "slightly" I mean completely generic to the bone. This can be seen in a majority of their songs.
The main issue here, at least to me, is the vocals. While they can be extremely catchy and you can't help but bob your head or sing along, you can't help but notice how generic it can be. Also with the generic vocal issue is the screaming vocals. He sounds kinda like he's on fire and he's screaming bloody murder for help. I gave this album repeated listens because I do like the instrumental style of this album, but the one hurdle I never could get over was the screaming vocal issue. I still, to this day, have not gotten into it completely. However, their growls are pretty nice, but he doesn't use them as often as I'd like.. Take notice to the song "Super Woman." It's probably my favorite track on the album. It starts of with a very sexy guitar intro, includes some nice instrumentals, has some catchy clean vocal hooks, and some very nice growling. However, you won't find many songs like this one on the album. They do like to use some unusual genre changes (like BTBAM, but not as well executed at all). Something seems a little awkward about it to me, but I can't quite pinpoint how. You'd just have to give it a listen and see if you agree. It's comparable to the Lady Antebellum lipton commercial. The one with "Just a Kiss" on it. It just seems awkward to me. Not necessarily bad, just not properly executed, in my opinion.
I'm not saying I haven't enjoyed this album, but there is a good amount of other bands of the metal/metalcore genre that I have enjoyed way more. If you're just browsing YouTube, it'd be a good listen just to check out, but I wouldn't spend my money on this album. If you feel like you must check this out, I suggest listening to "Super Woman," "I Know I," or "Altered Beast."
Pros:
Lovely instrumentation
Catchy hooks
Cons:
Generic
It all sounds the same
Screaming Vocals
